The Call Of The Wild.

Hunters and gun dealers who feared the worst ... ... from a projected four-day
shutdown of the state police computer system that handles electronic
background checks ended up wasting a good worry this holiday weekend.Narrowly averting the Apocalypse, gun sales across Pennsylvania quietly resumed yesterday morning -- a full day ahead of schedule and two days earlier than originally projected. Who do we have to thank?Officially it's crews from the state police and the department's vendor, Unisys. Unofficially, we're thanking the gods of caffeine, or whatever it was that motivated those guys to work around the clock during the Labor Day holiday to complete
a $32 million upgrade to the department's 25-year-old criminal records
database.
By 8:15 a.m. yesterday, Pennsylvania's Instant Check System had processed its
first background request, state police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller
said during a midday news conference, that, if such thing existed to measure it, would have scored off the charts with its air of anti-climax.'We thank everyone for their patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused,'' Miller said.
The original Sunday-Thursday shutdown provoked howls of indignation from hunters and
gun dealers, and even suggestions from some quarters that the shutdown
was a liberal conspiracy fomented by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and his
henchmen from Philadelphia.Confronted with the news that government had actually managed to do something right, sportsmen and dealers offered tributes.Ed Kennedy, owner of Ed's Sport Shop in Tamaqua, came away impressed by
the efficiency. His shop was closed Sunday and Monday for the holiday,
so ''there was no impact whatsoever -- apart from the people who think
[the shutdown] is still on.
''We had our doubts if they were going to be ready by Wednesday, but
they did good,'' said Kennedy, who had sold three guns as of 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday -- 2-1/2 hours after his shop opened.Now that our long statewide nightmare is finally over, we're pleased to announce that the rest of today's news, which also includes several non-stories just like this one, starts after the jump.

Like A (Troubled) Bridge Over Troubled Water Dept.Fifty-six locally owned bridges in the Lehigh Valley -- 15 in
Northampton County and 41 in
Lehigh County -- are ''structurally
deficient'' and in need of repair, according to a PennDOT report
released Tuesday.In news that's made us vow to never drive anywhere in Pennsylvania ever again, this new report says that about one-third of Pennsylvania bridges that are
20 feet or longer and owned by counties or municipalities are
structurally deficient.
Among the worst bridges in Lehigh County are the Hokendauqua bridge
crossing abandoned railroad tracks and the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua
Bridge over the Lehigh River. Both are on Lehigh Street and posted with
weight or lane restrictions, our Capitol colleague, Christina Gostomski, reports this morning.More good news: Northampton County's worst bridge is on Indian Trail Road over Indian
Creek south of Pennsville, Lehigh Township. It is open without
restrictions.
The report is the third released by the state Department of
Transportation in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse. In
August, the state released a report on the condition of Pennsylvania
bridges similar to the Minneapolis bridge and a second report covering
the condition of all state-owned bridges.To sum up: They're all pretty much falling apart.For Entertainment Purposes Only ...... we offer you (via Capitolwire) an internal poll by Luzerne County Republican Joe Peters
showing him leading the pack of likely GOP contenders for the 10th Congressional District seat now held by U.S. Rep. Chris Carney.So far, no fewer than five Republicans have been mentioned as possible challengers to Carney, who defeated former Congressman Don "Sleeper Hold" Sherwood last fall. Though it's obscenely early, insiders believe Luzerne County businessman Dan Meuser is the guy to beat.Fortunately for the body politic, voters just don't seem to care at the moment. Nearly 7 in 10 of likely Republican primary voters said they're still undecided.In case you care about such things, Peters' poll showed him leading Meuser 21 percent to 7 percent. And since an internal poll would be pretty much worthless without at least one "push" question, more than eight in 10 respondents said they'd be less likely to vote for someone who had "just moved into the district in order to run for Congress."Guess who that is?Yep ... it's Dan Meuser.Subtle.

One Year Into Office ...... and the honeymoon is over for nattily dressed Boy Mayor Luke Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh, the
Associated Press reports this morning.After fielding puffball questions from TV guy David Letterman early in his tenure, Ravenstahl recently found himself facing more uncomfortable questions from a rabbi and a nun at an ethics hearing over his participation at a charity golf tournament (there's a joke in there, we just know it).Editorial boards also played Pin-the-Tail-On-The-Mayor for flying to New York in March on a private jet owned by gajillionaire business-guy Ron Burkle, who co-owns the Pittsburgh Penguins.The dinner-and-drinks jaunt to the City That Never Sleeps came just hours after a deal had been cut to keep the no-longer-awful Penguins in Pittsburgh by building them a new arena."There was this sense that, with someone new, that was young, we might bring change," Republican Mark DeSantis, who's challenging Ravenstahl for the city's top job, agrammatically told the AP.Ravenstahl, meanwhile, says he's "comfortable with where
we are as a city and I think we've done some wonderful things over the
past year" -- despite the city's positively ginormous debt, shrinking population, and its state-conferred status as financially distressed.

In An Announcement That Just Pumps Us Full Of Confidence ...... Democratic officials in Philadelphia have apparently learned who Democratic money-guy
Norman Hsu is, and they're looking into whether to return the $10,000 donation the recent fugitive gave them.Hsu, more astute readers may recall, pleaded no contest to defrauding investors in California of $1 million back in 1991. He surrendered to authorities there last week on an outstanding warrant, the Inky reports this morning.According to the Inky's Tom Fitzgerald, Hsu donated his 10k to the city Democratic Committee in August 2006, as the party was gearing up voter turnout operations for Gov. Ed's second-term fight with Republican Lynn Swann, as well as the campaign of U.S. Sen. Hermetic Bob."Never met him and don't want to," grumbled U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the city's Democratic chairman."I don't have a clue," Brady added reassuringly. "Sometimes Rendell will have his people write checks," directly to the city's party to help pay for election expenses."That's probably what happened," Brady gyred and gimbled into the wabe.Rendell himself netted nearly $40,000 from Hsu in 2005 and 2006. Last week, the Guv said he wasn't going to give the money back until Hsu's conviction was upheld. He described Hsu as a "good friend."Ugh ... with friends like these ...

Well, This Can't Be Good.Embattled U.S. Sen. Larry "Wide Stance" Craigsays he may not resign from the U.S.
Senate at the end of the month after all. And who do we have to thank for it? Seems like it might be Pennsylvania's own Snarlen.According to the Idaho Statesmen, Craig, who mistakenly left a voice-mail on the phone of someone he thought was his lawyer, said he was bolstered by Snarlen's show support over the weekend. On Sunday, Specter went on Fox News and said, “I'd still like to see Senator Craig fight this case. He left himself some daylight, when he said he "intends" to resign in
30 days. I'd like to see Larry Craig go back to court, seek to withdraw
his guilty plea and fight the case.”Here's an MP3 of the phone message -- courtesy of Roll Call.Oh dear ...

Press Release Of The Week Dept.In which we revive a long-dormant Capitol Ideas feature, and throw mad props to the Pennsylvania Game Commission who, this morning, offer handy tips on how to avoid being eaten by a bear.The press release is long, and sort of jargon-y, but if we're reading it correctly, the Game Commission says the best way to avoid a confrontation with a bear is to ... AVOID A CONFRONTATION WITH A BEAR.And smearing yourself in honey and rolling in granola ... you might want to avoid that as well.

In The Blogosphere:Keystone Politics has some news about a harness-racing track in western Pennsylvania, which just prompts us to respond --- Oohh!!! Loook! Horsies!; Young Philly Politics has a bone to pick with the Commonwealth Foundation; Will Bunch takes to the airwaves, seems likely to annoy people; Like us, Tony Phyrillas has a few concerns over the decrepit state of Pennsylvania bridges; 2 Political Junkies on an upcoming Pittsburgh City Council hearing; Bernie O'Hare is a lumberjack and that's okay ...; PSoTD on the unique hell that is membership in a homeowners' association (think student council, except with better cars and more viciousness); PAWatercooler reminds us that Larry Craig apparently has a friend in Arlen Specter; Above Average Jane inquires after the whereabouts of legislative candidate Paul Lang; Mark Rauterkus on troubles with the Pittsburgh Promise tuition plan; Andrew Sullivan has some thoughts on l'affaire Craig; Crooks and Liars has the video of Keith Olbermann's epic rant last night; Hotline has some updates from its local affiliates, and anyone remember the Dewey Decimal System?

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning:Week Two of Pennsylvania Music Week continues this morning as we pay tribute to the legendary Philadelphia International Records, which produced some of the best soul records of the 1970s.This morning, it's Philly's own O'Jays, doing "Love Train," live at the Apollo Theater.

Wednesday's Gratuitous Soccer Link.It had to happen sometime: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, 62, is making renewed noises about hanging up his boots. We just wish he hadn't said that his No. 2 guy at Old Trafford, Carlos Queiroz, would make a good replacement. It was Queiroz who's largely responsible for the disastrous 4-5-1 formation the Red Devils played two seasons ago. When they returned to the classic 4-4-2 last season under Ferguson, United won the Premier League. We have no confidence in Queiroz's coaching style, and would sooner see Sunderland manager (and Ferguson acolyte) Roy Keane take the reins when Ferguson finally does pack it in.